4 year old tied up during home invasion, Grass Valley police say

Four men accused in a Tuesday home invasion arranged to buy marijuana from their victims before robbing them, tying up a 4-year-old child before fleeing with 97 pounds of pot, police said.

Alton E. Edmondson, 38, of Grayson, Georgia; Christopher Brandon Mapp, 29, of Antelope; Giovannie S. Morrison, 37, of Roseville; and Lorne Leroy Scott, 31, of New York City, each face charges of first-degree residential robbery, first-degree residential burglary and two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm. All four are accused of a special allegation — being armed with a firearm — and Mapp and Scott face three allegations each of personal use of a firearm, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in Nevada County Superior Court.

Additionally, Morrison is accused of being on bail out of Placer County at the time of the home invasion, the complaint states.

Booked Tuesday night into the Nevada County Jail, the four men appeared Wednesday in court for their first appearance. Judge Linda Sloven ordered them held on $500,000 in bond. All are scheduled to appear again before a judge this afternoon.

According to Grass Valley Police Capt. Steve Johnson, the suspected robbers arranged with the victims — a man and woman who have a 4-year-old child — to buy some marijuana.

"At this point, we're still filling in the details," Johnson said. "It seems that they came prepared to commit a robbery.

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"We're still looking into the depth of the relationship with the victims and the four suspects," he added later.

The men entered the victims' Pleasant Street home around 2:40 p.m. and tied up the pair, along with the 4-year-old child. They took marijuana and a purse filled with personal items before fleeing, Johnson and reports said.

Authorities said the woman freed herself and contacted police, describing a silver Hyundai as the robbers' vehicle.

Johnson said no one was injured.

Placer County deputies received the vehicle description, stopping a car at Highway 49 and Dry Creek Road around 3:15 p.m., said Lt. Andrew Scott, with the Placer County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies moments later stopped a second car also matching the vehicle description, Scott added.

"One was in much worse condition than the other," Scott said of the vehicles.

Two of the men were in one vehicle. The other two were in the second car. Officers arrested them without incident, the lieutenant said.

Johnson said two loaded pistols — a .45 caliber and .308 caliber, both semi-automatic — were spotted in plain sight in one of the cars. One car was owned by one of the men. The other was rented out of Sacramento.

"We have a really great relationship with Grass Valley," Scott said. "Our working relationship with Grass Valley has been really good."